Telescope bed tray



April 1949- K. c. RUSSELL 2,466,482

TELES COPE BED TRAY Filed Sept. 25, 1947 Inventor Ki! 6. RussellPatented Apr. 5, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE '2,466,482 TELESCOPEBED TRAY Kit C. Russell, Tacoma, Wash.

Application September 25, 1947, Serial No. 776,016

1 Claim.

This invention relates generally to trays securable to beds, and moreparticularly to a tray assembly mountable on the foot portion of a bed,the tray proper being shiftable longitudinally of the bed, and the traytogether with the supporting members therefor being disposable entirelyoutside the foot portion of the bed when desired.

A primary object of this invention is to provide a tray assembly forbeds in which the tray and the supporting members therefor can bepartially collapsed and pivoted into vertical position outside the footportion of the bed, so that the tray assembly will not interfere withthe manipulation of the bed clothing or with the movements of thepatient when the device in incorporated with a hospital bed, andallowing free access to the patient or attendants, and of course,providing fOr normal use of the bed when the device is not incorporatedwith a hospital bed but with beds used in private homes.

Another object of this invention is to provide a device of thischaracter which allows the ready movement of the bed, when the tray isin collapsed position as described in the preceding object.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a tray assembly,which is particularly Well adapted for combination with a bed having afoot portion including vertical bars, the attachment bracket of the trayassembly being secured to these bars, and other portions of the trayassembly being adapted to coact with the upper edge portion of said footportion to support the tray in one position.

Another object of this invention is to provide a tray assembly in whichthe tray proper may be moved longitudinally of the bed, at theconvenience of the person using the same.

And' a last object to be specifically mentioned is to provide a trayassembly of this character which is relatively inexpensive andpracticable to manufacture, extremely simple to install and use, andwhich will give generally eflicient and durable service.

With these objects definitely in view, together with other objects whichwill appear hereinafter as this description proceeds, this inventionresides in certain novel features of construction, combination andarrangement of parts and portions as will be hereinafter described indetail in the specification, particularly pointed out in the appendedclaim, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing which forms amaterial part of this application, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a hospital bed with one of theseimproved tray assemblies operatively applied thereto;

portion I2, said foot portion comprising a plurality of vertical bars l4supported terminally between and on the top rail or bar 16 and anotherrail or bar l8. The top rail may be a continu-ation of the legs 20 andthe other rail l8 will ordinarily be disposed parallel to the top raill6 and spaced downwardly therefrom and terminally connected to the legs20. It should be understood that the bed illustrated in Figure 1 isproposed as illustrative of any bed suitable for combination with thisinvention, and that minor modifications may be made in the tray assemblyto adapt the same for use with other bed formations.

The instant invention includes a bracket assembly generally indicated bythe numeral 22, tubular members 24, rods 26 telescopically arranged Withthe said tubular members, and a tray 28. The bracket 22 includes a pairof horizontally disposed bars 30 which are clamped in vertically spacedrelation to the bars R4 of the bed. Any suitable means may be used toclamp these bars 30 in place, the drawing illustrating simple clampmembers 32 secured to the horizontal bars 30 by rivets or bolts 34, andit will be obvious that these clamps may be easily made ajustable tosuit the particular spacing of the vertical bars 14 in any specific bed.

A pair of vertically disposed strap members 36 are secured to thehorizontally disposed bars 30 by bolts or rivets 3B, and the upper endsof these vertically disposed straps are provided with offset members 40,to the upper ends of which the tubular members 24 are pivoted, asindicated as 42. It will be evident from an inspection of the figures,that the bracket 22 must be adjusted vertically so that the pivot 42 isso disposed that the tubular members 24 will be substantially horizontalwhen these tubular members are in abutment with the upper edge of thetop rail l6 of the foot of the bed.

A pair of rods 44 are telescopically arranged for coaction with thetubular members 24, and the outer ends of these rods 44 are adapted inany suitable manner for securement thereto of a tray 28. The drawingrepresents this tray 28 as firmly riveted to the rods 44, as at 46. Therods 44 are apertured as at 48 and the adjacent ends of the tubularmembers 24 are apertured, as at 50, so that a pin 52, provided on eachof the tubular members, may be inserted through the registeringapertures and the rods 44 have been telescoped within the tubularmembers 24. If desired, these pins 52 may be secured to the tubularmembers 24 by short flexible cables 54.

The operation of this invention will be clearly understood from theforegoing description of the mechanical details thereof, taken inconnection with the above recitation of the objects sought to :beachieved by this invention. It will be clear that the tray assembly,when disposed as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, allows the use of thetray for supporting food, reading matter and the like for the use of aperson reclining on the bed, or alternatively, for the use ofattendants.

When the device is not to be used, the rods 44 v are telescoped withinthe tubular members 24, the pins 52 are inserted through the apertures50 and 48 to hold the assembly in collapsed condition, and the tray,rods 44 and tubular members 24 are pivoted into substantially verticalposition at the foot of the bed, it being noted that the total length ofthe collapsed members is less than the height of the foot portion of thebed so that the bed may be easily moved and the tray will not contactthe floor.

It is believed that the foregoing description amply illustrates how thisinvention may be reduced to practice and that further description isunnecessary. Many minor variations may be made in the details ofconstruction of the inven- 4 tion, and the novelty in this inventionwill be 4 limited only by a proper interpretation of the terminology inthe appended claim.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

A tray assembly mountable on the foot portion of a bed, comprising abracket securable to the foot of a bed and having offset portionsextending beyond the foot of the bed, a pair of tubular members pivotedto said offset portions and having intermediate portions engageable withthe upper edge of said foot portion to limit the downward pivotalmovement of the tubular members, a pair of rods telescopically mountedin said tubular members, a tray supported on the outer ends of saidrods, the tray along with the rods and tubular members being pivotallyshiftable into a position beyond the foot of the bed when not in use andin order to facilitate manipulation of bedding.

KIT C. RUSSELL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,256,209 Darlsston Feb. 12, 19181,280,256 Lubas Oct. 1, 1918 1,293,631 Diou Feb. 4, 1919 1,462,856Hartman et a1. July 24, 1923 1,719,614 McIntosh July 2, 1929 1,823,214Scriven et a1 Sept. 15, 1931 1,894,991 Hayes Jan. 24, 1933 2,245,120Abresch June 10, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 379,543 GreatBritain Sept. 1, 1982 799,431 France June 12, 1936

